UW Religion Today Column for May 8-14: Osama bin Laden: The Failure of His Message

May 4, 2011

"Religion Today" is contributed by the University
of Wyoming's Religious Studies Program to examine and promote discussion of
religious issues.

By Paul V.M. Flesher

Why do Americans think that Osama bin Laden was a Muslim
leader? Because he styled himself as one and we took his word for it.

At a time when leadership in the Islamic world was largely
defined by national or ethnic boundaries for both political and religious
figures, bin Laden addressed himself to Muslims at large from a location that
was both everywhere and nowhere. After 9/11, his organization, al-Qaeda, seemed
able to appear at any place at anytime, while Osama himself could not be found.
This provided him a trans-national stage no Muslim leader since Abdul Nasser
had possessed. We thought people were listening.

Bin Laden considered his primary audience all Muslims, and
in particular Muslims who found themselves living constrained lives. They were
in economic straights, often jobless, and lived in countries where their
freedoms were severely limited. They lacked freedom of expression and speech,
and freedom of movement, and freedom to assemble -- to say nothing of freedom
of the press. Their ability to carry out their lives was limited by fear of
government reprisals if they (accidentally) stepped out of line. And of course,
lack of jobs and opportunities led to widespread poverty.

The problem, according to bin Laden, was caused by Western
imperial powers that had conquered most Muslim countries at some time during
the past two centuries and then ruled them in a way that transferred the wealth
of the vanquished to the conquerors. This characterization of the problem was
not original; as the Muslim nations gained their independence during the 20th
century, successive politicians in country-after-country used it to justify
their policies and the exploitation of their own people.

But bin Laden's solution was original. He argued that if
Muslims attacked and damaged Western powers at the heart of their economic
strength, those powers would spend their economies dry trying to protect
themselves. Muslims would then rise up en masse and throw off their chains. (American
reaction to 9/11 has shown that the first part of Osama's assessment was
surprisingly accurate. Since then our nation entered two wars that were paid
for by increasing our debt and which helped lead to a world-wide recession).

Within the Islamic world itself, the response was much smaller.
Most of the people motivated to join bin Laden's cause came from a single
segment of society -- young unemployed men. Being unemployed, these men had the
time to turn to religious education. This positioned them to hear Osama's
message, which was delivered in religious terms. That was the only type of "free"
speech allowed by the governments of these Muslim countries, since overtly
political speech was suppressed. Because Osama's message was against the outside powers
rather than national Muslim politicians, it was suppressed very little.

Across the world's 1.5 billion Muslims, bin Laden's religiously
formulated message was accepted by surprisingly few. It may have resonated with
long-standing frustrations in the Arab and Muslim world, but only a few thousand
young men actually joined al-Qaeda.

Since the start of 2011, there have been uprisings in many
Arab nations, from Tunisia and Egypt to Libya, Yemen and the Persian Gulf
states. Millions of people, male and female, young and old, have protested against
their governments and some cases overthrown them. But these protests have
nothing to do bin Laden or al-Qaeda. They stem from the failure of each
country's strong-man leadership to deliver what the people needed: Jobs, civil
rights and freedoms, freedom from fear of their own government, etc.

Bin Laden's attempt to blame the United States failed. The
Muslim people could see that the roots of their problems lay much closer to
home. Indeed, the responsibility was within their own country, not some far-away
power. In the end, it is concern over jobs, personal security and freedom that
is bringing positive political change to the Muslim world.

So, bin Laden may have presented himself as a leader and a
voice for the Islamic people, but few listened. The Western press paid more
attention to him than the Muslim people did. The recent revolutions have come
from within each country and community. They are spontaneous, rather than
theorized and planned.

And most importantly, they result from the people attempting
to win better conditions for themselves through peaceful means, rather than through
violence and mass murder.